My Makeup Vanity Set-Up With DIY Lighted Mirror

Thursday, March 15, 2012

I've been dropping one-liners about my makeup studio in-the-making for the past few weeks. We converted a spare bedroom in our house into my makeup studio/office where I will be storing all my makeup and nail polish, and of course this is also the place where I'll be doing my makeup. I wanted a standard desk where I can fit many makeup staples that I will be using, and the rest of the makeup will be kept in my Ikea Hopen chest and dresser. The room is definitely not yet complete, but I did post about my makeup storage system using the Ikea Hopen 6-drawer chest and 8-drawer dresser.

I really wanted a huge mirror with lightbulbs around it for that amazing lighting that would make applying makeup a very pleasant (and easy on the eyes) experience. However, my DIY/handyman of a husband scoffed at the idea of buying such makeup mirrors online for $300 to $400 a piece. He said he can make something like that (if not better) for a lot less. He's a woodcraft hobbyist and a handyman, and he's made several of our garage cabinets and storage systems, so I believed him when he said he could make something like that. We bought the bulbs, mirror, bulb strips and the desk itself from IKEA. He got a strong kind of wood from Home Depo and measured and cut it around the mirror. He painted the wood black and installed the light strips. We got 7w bulbs from IKEA and plugged them into the light strips.

With the tired handyman and his project - almost done!

So after attaching the mirror with bulbs on the wall, adding an entire strip of power plugs below it so I can use a lot of my gadgets on that desk - presenting - my new Vanity with my own DIY lighted mirror!

To the left of the vanity, my Ikea Hopen 8-drawer dresser for makeup storage can be partially seen.

I am really in love with my new vanity, especially since hubby made the mirror! It has 5 bulbs on each side, and believe me, that is PLENTY of light. I really don't need another strip on the top as it will get too hot and bright. I also got the upholstered armchair at Ikea. I have around 12 of those Sterilite mini stacked drawers, but I only use 2 or 3 on the vanity for my absolute everyday staples. The rest of the makeup are in my Hopen chest and drawer (which I will be showing soon along with my updated makeup collection).

I got that dish stand at Target for only $1.21 plus tax (it was on clearance), and I use it to store and display my MAC palettes. I love it because it's so cheap and yet very useful and pretty in displaying my palettes.

Here's a closer look at what the vanity contains.

This is the dish stand I got at Target that holds my MAC palettes. I like that it's so convenient to grab whatever I want in those palettes without rummaging through a drawer.

I talked about my Jetmax Desktop Carousel in this post about my makeup brush collection and storage. I bought it at Michael's with a 40% off coupon, so I paid around $30 for this. It holds all of my face, kabuki, flat-top, blush and duo fibre brushes.

Beside my MAC palettes are all of my eye and concealer brushes. They are organized according to type (left side are my shaders and concealer brushes, the middle contains my blending brushes, the right side has all my liner, pencil and detail brushes). It also contains my foundation staples, both liquid and mineral makeup. The Sterilite stacked drawers hold my staple liners, concealers, brow mousse, and all my staple everyday items.

The left drawer holds my favorite palettes. I have the Kat Von D. palette that I have yet to post a review on, the Urban Decay 15-year anniversary palette that I also have not reviewed yet, all my MAC quads, my Urban Decay Naked 1 and 2 palettes, Stila In The Garden palette which I love, my Anastasia All Eye Want palette, and more. The rest of my palettes are stored in the Hopen dresser.

The right drawer has some of my favorite stuff at the back in the white tray, like my Bobbi Brown Extra Repair cream foundations, and some NARS items. At the front are my MAC fluidlines and NYX Haute Jersey Leopard Couture palette, and my Rock & Republic eye shadows.

Below those are all my MAC paint pots and a couple of Tendertones mixed in.

Woops! I found a stray Maybelline gel liner!

Between those drawers is an empty space that can exactly fit two of these type of plastic storage that I got from Ikea. They perfectly fit into the space and in the Hopen cabinets, that I will be getting a lot more of these. One of these will also exactly fit into my Helmer drawers that store my nail polish. I used 2 of the plastic trays for the space in my desk to fill it with lipsticks, lip glosses, blushes, bronzers and highlighters and mascara that I like to use for the moment or that I'm currently testing or reviewing for the blog. I regularly rotate the products in my Hopen drawers so I can make use of them as well.

There you have it, my makeup vanity set-up! I will be posting my entire makeup and nail polish collection plus a makeup room tour when the room is finished! Still putting up an accent wall and appropriate curtains for the room. Hubby is also making a basket stand with his very own countertop. Will post all these new stuff soon!

11 comments

I would love to borrow your husband! =) It was soooo sweet of him to build it himself. If you don't mind me asking, how much time and money was spent creating the lighted mirror? Regardless, I think it was well worth it cuz it sure beats $300/$400.

Haha! Yes I'm mighty proud of him. I think it would cost more or less $100. The mirror itself was only $13. The wood was also inexpensive. The strips would be no more than $15 each. And I don't think it was very difficult to set up. It sure beats $400 any time!